What was going on at the Texas fertilizer factory before it exploded?

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The fertilizer production facility in West, a small town near Waco in Texas, was conducting the final steps necessary to convert natural gas into plant food. That’s been the basic recipe for fertilizer ever since a German chemist named Fritz Haber created the process that bears his name (along with his colleague Carl Bosch) in 1909.

Back to yesterday’s explosion: The West Fertilizer Co. plant had an air quality permit from the state to run a fertilizer mixing and storage facility. It had a large stockpile of anhydrous ammonia, which is synthesized from natural gas and atmospheric nitrogen using the Haber-Bosch process. The Dallas Morning News reported that West Fertilizer’s filings with federal and local environmental officials claimed that its plant posed no risk of a fire or explosion.

The massive explosion in West registered 2.1 on the Richter scale. According to witness accounts (including this harrowing YouTube video), a huge fire engulfed the facility before the blast. Firefighters are now battling a complicated blaze and possible poisonous fumes, and the death toll is feared to be severe. Two deaths and more than a hundred injuries have already been reported. Flames from the blast spread to homes and other buildings nearby.